That Derry Girls season finale: ‘The actors found it tough’ - Lisa McGee

The heart-wrenching final scenes of Season One of Derry Girls with the juxtaposition of the teenagers dancing on a school stage as relatives at home watched the unfolding horror of the aftermath of a bombing was praised for its bravery and had many in tears.

Speaking about the reaction to that scene, Lisa said: “The reaction generally to the finale last year was crazy for me. It was something I was quite nervous about so to see the Tweets start to come in from local folk; people who had no connection to the city from around Britain, and from people from both sides of the community here, it was just really moving and a big sigh of relief where you went: ‘Oh thank God that worked’.”

Many fans of the show at home and abroad took to social media to speak about the impact the season’s closing scenes had had on them, with critics and viewers describing it as poignant and a gut punch that brought home how ordinary people here, as the writer herself has said, lived their lives during what were extraordinary times.

Some viewers were brought to tears while others said it spurred them on to find out more about the Troubles here.

On the filming of those scenes, Lisa said: “The actors found it tough. I didn’t because we were so pushed for time, I was just more stressed, but when it was on TV I cried then, but I think it was just the relief of: ‘It’s out; it’s on Channel 4 now.’ “It’s something I think every family from here has been through, stood round a TV like that . . .”